NDP leader Jagmeet Singh speaks with reporters following caucus on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Wednesday January 31, 2018.Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Ontario NDP suddenly has a remarkable lead in an unremarkable Ontario provincial election and the Alberta and British Columbia NDP parties sits in power and govern their respective provincial governments.

Why then are Jagmeet Singh and the federal NDP party nowhere to be found on the political landscape in Canadian politics?

Singh has more NDP support at the provincial level than any NDP leader in a generation and yet he is completely irrelevant in Ottawa and in the federal political scene.

When he was elected leader he was touted as young, bright and media savvy, someone who was going to give Justin Trudeau a run for his money in stealing the spotlight. Instead, he has been a bigger lunch bag letdown than a bologna sandwich on wonderbread.

Singh has three major problems he needs to address.

First, nobody knows who he is and what he stands for. If anyone has heard anything about him, it involves his recent marriage.

What issues has Singh associated himself with? None come to mind… and I live, eat and breathe politics. Singh needs to champion two or three issues that will become his causes and Canadians can associate him with.

Second, Singh needs to be a member of Parliament. He needs to get elected and have a seat in the House of Commons.

Most parties would have had a caucus member resign a long time ago and put in place the right scenario for its leader to basically be acclaimed in a safe riding. The NDP have failed to so this for their leader.

Recent rumours of Singh running in Montreal are absurd. The Liberals will run a strong candidate against him and beat him.

Elsewhere, Kennedy Stewart, the NDP MP for Burnaby, is running to be the mayor of Vancouver. This creates the right opportunity for Singh to run in the byelection in Burnaby South. Singh should run in British Columbia and get his seat in the House of Commons to participate in Question Period and play a role on the Parliamentary process.

Third, Singh needs a new social media strategy. Singh’s online media presence is more of a third-year university student than that of someone who wants to be Prime Minister.

He constantly tries to be cool and a hipster and this does not play well within his caucus. His Twitter account (@thejagmeetsingh) makes him look more like a vegan restaurant reviewer than a national party leader.

Singh needs to be more grounded. He needs more gravitas. He needs to be seen in a serious forum where he can demonstrate that he has the qualifications to be Prime Minister.

Ontario looks like it is ready to go back to the future. No one seems to remember the Rae days and change for the sake of change is the motto of Ontarians.

The Ontario Progressive Conservatives look like Charlie Brown and the Ontario electorate look to be Lucy with the football.

BC and Alberta have elected NDP governments. All the pieces of the political puzzle are in place for the NDP to take centre stage on the national scene.

But Jagmeet Singh needs to find his two major issues, win a federal seat and change his online media ways if they stand a chance to knock off Justin Trudeau and the Liberals in 2019.

Jim Warren is a Liberal strategist who worked for Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto mayor Mel Lastman.

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